On June 12, a day after Sun Jian made a declaration of war, in the early morning of that day, heavy rain fell again in the southernmost river basin of Nanyang.

It was summer and it was in the south, considering the climate of this place at this time, such rain seemed to be a matter of course, but for Zhu Zhi, who was born in Jiangnan and had been in war for a long time, he sensed an inexplicable breath from this heavy rain.

Or to put it bluntly, when the heavy rain fell, Zhu Zhi, who was in Chaoyang City on the west bank of the river, inexplicably had more confidence in this battle, and he began to believe that Sun Wentai's fighting spirit was not untargeted...... At least at this time, no one can deny that under such rain, the power of Lu Bu's eight hundred cavalry will always be greatly reduced, and their sentry advantage will also be obscured by the heavy rain.

It's a fighter!

And sure enough, just after breakfast, Sun Wentai sent his cronies and guards to Chaoyang County, where Zhu Zhi was stationed, to give an order.

"General," facing Zhu Zhi, who had been promoted to the rank of 2,000 stone lieutenant in Sun Jian's camp as early as the Changsha period, and was even more regarded as a lieutenant general at this time, the person who gave the order was respectful. "The prince has an order, please lead the whole army to cross the river to the east bank to join him, before noon, the whole must be crossed! Don't be heavy, but bring all the mats in the city! ”

Zhu Junli, who had been mentally prepared, was rarely stunned, because there were too many unbelievable and unexpected places in this overly simple military order.

Not to mention the matter of straw mats or not straw mats, and not to mention that the whole army was lightly armed when it rained, just the direction of crossing the river was a little unprepared.

Speaking of which, we must first understand the terrain of the battlefield here...... The water and the water are roughly in the north-south direction, but they merge into one in front of Deng County (it is regarded as the water is injected into the water), and then continue to the south for a short time, and then merge into the water under the city of Xiangyang.

Among them, Sun Jian's main station in Xinye City is located in the narrow Yangtze River Delta between Shuishui and Bishui; The place where Liu Pan, Cai Mao, Huang Zhong, and Lu Bu were stationed was in front of Deng County, in the open area west of the river; Huang Zu and Yuan Shu were under Caiyang City to the east of Bishui...... If Sun Wentai wants to attack the former, he needs to cross the water, and if he wants to attack the latter, he needs to cross the water, and if the two armies of the other side want to support each other, they only need to cross a river, because in the front Bishui and the water are one.

Or to put it simply, at the point at the junction of Bishui and Shuishui, there are three lines stretched out, namely Shuishui without confluence, Bishui, and Shuishui after confluence, and the three armies are in three fan-shaped areas, and there is only one river between them.

In this case, Chaoyang City, which is located on the west bank of the river, not far from Xinye City, but protrudes four or five miles to the south, that is, the place where Zhu Zhi led 5,000 troops to station, is inevitably particularly important, because it is not only an important barrier in the direction of Liu Pan and Lu Bu in Deng County during the defense, but also an outpost during the attack...... Otherwise, Sun Jian would not have let Zhu Zhi come here immediately after hearing about the other party's increase in troops.

However, the question now is, since it is going to attack the enemy in Deng County, shouldn't it be the main force of the whole army who secretly crossed the river from behind Chaoyang City to the west bank by taking advantage of the heavy rain? Why did you let yourself lead the whole army to the east coast instead?

Could it be that he temporarily changed his mind and wanted to take advantage of the heavy rain to sneak attack Yuan Shu and Huang Zu under Caiyang City on the east bank of Bishui?

Thinking about it this way, it seems to be a lot more reasonable, because it is by no means a simple matter for nearly 20,000 troops to cross the river under the heavy rain, and the water is much slower than the tributary of the water, and the river is much narrower, and it is easier to cross the river if you go fast, and Huang Yuan and the others have no advantage in strength and combat power, plus they are both well-known bastards, so it is estimated that they would have thrown down their soldiers and horses in such heavy rain and shrunk in Caiyang City to drink and have fun.

"The whole army is converging in front of Shinno Castle on the east coast?" As soon as he thought of this, Zhu Zhi immediately confirmed the military order. "Or do you just cross the river east from Chaoyang City and wait for the confluence of the armies in the wilderness China?"

"It's not Shinno Castle!" The person who gave the order had already been instructed by Sun Jian, so he naturally immediately pointed out the key points. "The prince wants the general to immediately throw down Chaoyang City, leave all the flags and inconvenient things, just try his best to collect straw mats and other things, and the rest of the army will take advantage of the heavy rain to cross the river lightly and go east, and meet on the other side of Chaoyang City!"

Zhu Zhi understood in his heart, and his face bowed, but he no longer hesitated and acted immediately.

In other words, Chaoyang and Xinye are opposite each other across the river, and now they are connected to the army, Zhu Zhi naturally built a pontoon bridge in the safe section behind him through the protection of the city, and at this time the heavy rain has just fallen, the river has not risen, and the pontoon bridge is naturally safe, plus Sun Jian's fighting spirit is obvious, and there are also logistics preparations...... So, the 5,000 soldiers and horses threw down all the flags, golden drums, chariots, and even a few war horses, all of them only brought dry food and drinking water for a day and night, carried armor and weapons, and hastily collected more than 1,000 straw mats from the people and merchants in the city, and immediately crossed the river lightly.

At noon, the rain did not abate, and there was a faint thunder like it, on the wilderness in Xinye on the other side of Chaoyang City, it was indeed a large army gathered, and Sun Wentai's whole army of 18,000 people took advantage of the rain!

"Prince!" Zhu Zhi saw the only big flag wet by the rain from afar, and immediately moved forward to converge.

"Junli!" Sun Jian wore armor and hung a knife, and there was a straw mat rolled outside the spear on his body, and he heard the voice of his henchman in the rain surrounded by the generals, and he didn't recognize it, but just responded with a loud voice. "Are all 5,000 soldiers here?"

"It's all here!"

"Well done! How many straw mats did you bring? ”

"More than 1,000 collars!"

"Enough!"

"Prince, where are we going?"

"Go to the east, while the water is still rising, and the whole army crosses the water from the shoal five miles downstream, and then goes down the river from the east bank!"

Zhu Zhi was so determined that he didn't hesitate anymore, and immediately ordered the officers at all levels of the headquarters to go to the southeast.

Although the rain did not abate, the five-mile road was too close, and under the light raid, the soldiers all had a psychological advantage over Yuan Shu's defeated army, so it was only about half an hour before they reached the shallows. And just as Sun Jian said, the heavy rain began in the morning, and at this time it has not yet converged to form a flood peak.

So Sun Wentai ordered Jiang Qin to lead 800 Jiang Han disciples as the vanguard, and directly crossed the river easily with the whole army, and went down the river to Caiyang further downstream.

Along the way, with the cover of heavy rain and the rising water potential, relying on Jiang Gongyi's bravery, and relying on the adaptability of Jiang Han's children to the summer rainy climate, Sun Wentai's department almost easily uprooted the strongholds arranged by Yuan and Huang along the way, and easily went south all the way.

However, in the afternoon, after the whole army braved the rain and went south along the river embankment for a long time, Zhu Zhi suddenly noticed a problem, that is, Sun Jian was just walking along the river, but he had no intention of turning to Cai Yang, after all, Cai Yang City was not Chaoyang City, it was not next to the river, but fifteen miles away from the east bank of the river...... At first, although Zhu Zhi was aware, he instinctively thought that Sun Jian wanted to use the river embankment to facilitate the march and close to the river to hide his whereabouts.

However, seeing that the time passed by a moment, the whole army had already crossed the three forks of the water that poured into the water, but it still continued to maintain the momentum of the army along the embankment of the river, and at this time, above the dripping rain, the light behind the clouds had gradually deflected...... Finally, after the rain stopped for a while, Sun Jian ordered the whole army to rest temporarily under the river embankment, Zhu Zhi couldn't bear it at all, and his people took the initiative to go forward to find their own lord.

"Prince!" Zhu Junli stepped forward and shouted out to Sun Jian, who was chatting and laughing with the soldiers, in the dripping rain. "The more rainy the day, the more you have to pay attention to the lighting, don't turn to launch a surprise attack at this time, wait until it gets dark, tens of thousands of troops, it is estimated that there are few who can touch Caiyang City, while you can still identify the road, go directly to Caiyang!"

"Who said we were going to Caiyang?" Sun Wentai stopped and stood among the soldiers who were sitting on the ground despite the mud, and when he saw that it was his chief henchman, he couldn't help but laugh jokingly. "Didn't my military order tell the whole army to cross the river and go down the river?"

Under the rain, he rushed to the other party, and Zhu Zhi, whose face was covered with water, raised his head blankly...... For a moment, his brain went blank, and then there was an inexplicable panic.

Of course...... As a veteran general in the army, as the recognized first general with a foreign surname in Sun Jian's camp, as a county official who was born as a filial piety and honest official, and as a person who has always been famous for knowing 'literary affairs' on Sun Jian's side, Zhu Junli has no clue at all at this time.

It's a clue!

At this moment, in the face of Sun Jian's sudden rejection of the military plan to march into Caiyang and raid Yuan Shu and Huang Zu, he didn't know what Sun Wentai was going to do, and he couldn't think of what the other party could do, but at this time, the whole army had already pressed down!

The crowd of 18,000 threw down the two fortified cities of Xinye and Chaoyang, which were horns of each other, without baggage, just dry food for a day and night, and then crossed the river in such a daze, and came to the enemy-occupied area...... How could he not panic? Why don't you panic?!

Unexpectedly, in the rain curtain that gradually eased a little, Sun Wentai saw that his cronies and generals were so out of shape, and he was not in a hurry but rejoiced: "If you can't even guess what I'm going to do when you get to this point, then this time it will definitely happen!" It must be known that the soldiers are treacherous, and among the so-called tricks, the most fatal thing is to cover up their unpreparedness by surprise......

"Of course I know this, but the prince ......"

"Junli, this strategy of mine was learned from the two world-famous war examples of General Wei and Lu Fengxian himself!" Seeing this, Sun Jian simply dragged the other party to the riverbank despite the slipperyness. "Do you see that?"

"I can probably think of some." Zhu Zhi was still at a loss, but he still blurted out. "Taking advantage of the heavy rain just falling and the river not rising, the people on the other side can be completely unprepared, which is the strategy of General Wei's counterattack on Liucheng to cross the Daling River; Another strategy should be to use the river embankment as a signpost to keep the army in the rain, which should be the basis for Lu Bu to lead thousands of cavalry along the golden embankment in the dark night in Sanjin to and fro...... But Junhou, it is precisely because of this that we have to march quickly, Caiyang does not have a river embankment for us to do a passage for transporting troops. ”

"It's all said, it's not going to Caiyang." Sun Jian carried a spear and a straw mat, looked at the other side of the river in the rain and said slowly. "Instead, I went to Deng County, I didn't say the night before yesterday that I would beat Liu Pan, Lu Bu, Huang Zhong, and Cai Mao...... Deng County is next to the river embankment, as long as we press the river embankment, even if it is dark and rainy, we can touch the front of the other party's military camp. ”

Zhu Zhi was even more flustered, and his dazed expression was even heavier: "But Junhou, if you fight Deng County, why don't you cross the river from Chaoyang, and then wouldn't it be more convenient for us to march along the river embankment on the east bank?" Why ......"

"Because of the surprise." Sun Jian replied with a straight face. "Although I am full of fighting spirit, I am not stupid, Lu Bu, Liu Pan are brave, Huang Zhong is fierce, plus a Cai Mao is the first in the local family, and there are more troops than us, and there are 800 cavalry, if you can't take it by surprise, it will be dangerous to fight......"

"But as the so-called flat dead iron horse, shallow water can drown people!" Zhu Zhi was stunned for a moment, and then with a certain ridiculous look, he pointed to the water that had risen in front of him. "Junhou, I won't say that there are already dozens of people who have slipped and fallen on the side of the road on this day's march, waiting for us to take down Cai Yang and come back to save them, just say this water, look at this water, the water is rising......"

"So I brought two thousand mats to cross the river!" Sun Jian is still upright.

Zhu Zhi's brain went blank again.

"Can't think of it, right?" Sun Jian smiled and sighed when he saw this. "The mat can cross the river, and as long as the reeds that can be found everywhere on the riverside of this summer day are wrapped in the mat, and the rope and spear shaft are connected together, the raft can be easily crossed...... When I was a child, Xu Kun and his mother wanted to go paddling, and the family kept a tight eye on the boats, so it only took me a quarter of an hour to make a small raft out of reeds and mats, and then take her to the Fuchun River to pick lotuses...... Although you are from Jiangdong, you have an excellent background, I heard that we have some relationship with the Zhu family of Wu County, tie your hair and be a county official, and you will be crowned and filial piety, how can you understand these things? But it's okay, you don't understand, then Liu Pan is a boy from the Central Plains, Lu Bu is a Heshuoer, and Cai Mao is a son of a family, how can you understand these? is a native of Nanyang, Huang Zhong, who was appointed by Liu Biao as a Zhonglang general, and he is not a small family...... No matter how careful they were, no matter how good they were at fighting, and how careful they were in the daytime, and drove the sentries to scout as far as they could on the east bank, how could they have thought that I would cross the river from the direction of Huang Zu at dusk? It's still raining so hard, and the river is still so fast? ”

Zhu Zhi wanted to speak and stopped.

"Don't say it." Sun Jian became serious. "I know you still want to persuade me to turn around and attack Cai Yang...... But Junli, how can there be a reason not to face difficulties in the world? The current situation is that the enemy of Deng County is the real obstacle, if they can be defeated, then Huang Zu and Yuan Shu are like things in the bag, and if Huang and Yuan can't break them, then we will never be able to pacify Nanyang, let alone enter Jingxiang! The fighter plane is tonight, you are the deputy general on my side, when there is a deputy second general, at this time, you can only help me, not persuade me! ”

Zhu Zhi immediately solemnized.

"Has the whole army stopped?" Sun Wentai saw that Zhu Zhi didn't say anything more, and Jiang Qin, Li Tong, Zu Mao, Huang Gai, Sun Ben and other generals of the army also surrounded him, but he simply gave an order. "Taking advantage of the slow rain and the clear eye, I cut down the reeds here and swept across the river!"

Everyone did not dare to slack off, and they did what they were ordered.

In other words, the reed is the heart, the straw mat is the table, the long pole is the bone, and then tied into a raft with ropes, although it may not be a widely spread technology, but as long as the children of poor families in the south are familiar with the rivers, they are actually a little bit clear, they may not have done this when they were young, but they have similar things.

Reeds are everywhere, mats are broken and broken at home, wooden poles are cut by themselves, the only trouble is the need to rub hemp rope, who hasn't had a similar experience?

Of course, the reeds and the mat that is woven from the reeds can't help but soak, and it is easy to rot after a few times, so this kind of raft is destined to be only a one-off, so no one thought that one day they would join the army to get rich and rich, and they would just take this to cross the river.

Everyone didn't expect it, let alone Liu and Cai on the other side, as for Lu Bu, who was born in Heshuo, he must know about the sheepskin raft...... Reed raft ...... I've definitely never seen it!

However, it is generally the case, which is easy to say but extremely difficult to do.

The river was rushing and the rain was non-stop, and the soldiers went barefoot to cut down the reeds under the embankment, but several people slipped into the river one after another and were swept away, and more commonly, under the slippery water, the sharp blades and reeds easily cut the wounds, and the blood and muddy water mixed together, making people miserable. Such a reduction in personnel, coupled with the slippery falls and injuries on the march the day before, has exceeded 100.

However, this is the army, this is the system under the military law, just the daily march, do things, do not go to the sword soldiers will have countless kinds of strange attrition, Gongsun Xun crossed the Daling River in the rain before, sneaking to pursue the Wuhuan people, and also lost countless troops along the way, and thousands of war horses were abolished...... But on the flip side, this is what makes armies stronger than bandits, who can save more lives on the battlefield by sacrificing for discipline, marching, and readiness to fight elsewhere.

Sun Wentai imitated Gongsun Xun to sneak across the river and attacked the city in the middle of the night, and the battle of Gongsun Xun Liucheng that day was almost a small and incalculable overall loss in the end, annihilating the Wuhuan tribe of the rebel army in Liaoxi for hundreds of years...... I just don't know how far Sun Wentai can do it today.

The sunlight behind the clouds has already dimmed, but fortunately, this kind of raft is extremely simple, and Sun Jian brought two thousand leading mats, not to ferry people back and forth on rafts, it is obvious that he wants to build a few simple reed pontoon bridges, and once the pontoon bridges are completed, there is no problem in crossing the river successfully.

In fact, as Jiang Qin's deep water men led the rope into the water under the heavy reward, swam to the opposite bank in the middle of the flood peak, and successfully erected the pile, the whole army rejoiced for a while.

"Cross the river!" Sun Jian did not hesitate to give a military order.

Immediately, his men put on armor and walked up to the rickety pontoon bridge with spears in advance to lead the way...... However, the first few steps were barely feasible because of the wooden stakes and ropes fixed under the embankment, but when they reached the center of the river, suddenly a small wave swept upstream, and the pontoon bridge made of grass swept by reeds immediately churned with the water below, and the seven or eight guards in front of them with armor and spears could not stand firm almost instantly, and directly rolled down like wooden animal cards, and plunged into the river.

Considering the iron armor on their bodies and the murky river water beneath the flood peak at this time, it is conceivable that these most trusted and outstanding warriors on Sun Jian's side can no longer survive.

The embankment of the river, which had been jubilant, was dumbfounded for a while, and the soldiers naturally cowered.

Zhu Zhi opened his mouth, and the half-heroic spirit aroused before was instantly extinguished, but he was ready to step forward and persuade Sun Jian to turn to Cai Yang again, he no longer expected to be able to reach Cai Yang before dark, but such a surprise attack, as long as there are thousands of people who dare to fight to touch the city of Cai Yang, there is still something to say about this battle.

However, Zhu Junli raised his head, but was stunned to find that Sun Wentai had already begun to undress.

The outer burqa and the armor under the burqa were removed one by one, and then Sun Wentai actually only wore the single clothes inside, wrapped in a red silk and carrying an ancient ingot knife, leading the rain to stand on the river embankment, and looked around proudly: "Gentlemen! Can you have someone from Jiangdong Township who hears my reputation in the township and follows me to the Central Plains to find fame? ”

Everyone was stunned, and the words that Zhu Junli had prepared were also blocked on the spot, but directly knelt down on the muddy river embankment with Zu Mao and called his life...... The two of them, one from Yuzhang and one from Wujun, are exactly like this.

Not only the two, but many of the surrounding soldiers also knelt down one after another.

"But there is Xu Yangnan, who is heroic and unrestrained, and is born recklessly, because no one is willing to accept it in the troubled times, but my Sun Jian has always been a light plagiarist, and he is a Jiangdong savage, so he came all the way and entrusted him with his life?"

Jiang Qin led the crowd to bend over and call for his life, while Li Tong hesitated a little and also led his headquarters to bend down.

"But if you were born in the hot and humid land of Jingnan, you first saw me crusading against bandits, and then heard that I was going south to ask for Dong, do you think that I am still a person who lives up to the country and abandons my family for righteousness?"

Huang Gai also led the crowd to bow down and call his life.

"Only today's scene...... My grandson is enough! Sun Jian looked at the rain and saw that there was no one standing in his eyes, but he was struggling on the embankment. The world ridicules us southerners for being reckless and reckless, but they don't know why we are reckless? Everything in the world, fame and fortune, and even righteousness and pride, none of them are our southerners, we are born with nothing, only one life, if you don't go to get your life, how can you get one or two? ”

The rain is dripping non-stop, the water is tumbling, and on the river embankment, below Zhu Zhi, many people are already rough and angry.

"On that day in Chen County, I promised you to return to your hometown with wealth and fame, but today I want to tell you that Liu Biao and Lu Bu are in Deng County, and they will not let us go back, nor will we be allowed to take our own wealth and fame...... If we are not allowed to do so, we will have to fight for our lives! Sun Jian's voice was so loud that his voice was almost hoarse. There is nothing else to say today, the spirit of Guangwu is in Caiyang, if he thinks that my Sun Jian deserves to die, let me die, if he belongs to me, let me cross the river safely, in anticipation of a big victory! And you, those who are willing to follow me, all take off their armor, throw down their long soldiers, and cross the river with me! Those who do not want to follow me, go by themselves, go by themselves! ”

With that, he only took the ancient ingot knife, picked up the water wrapped in the bamboo tube on the ground, and turned directly to step onto the churning pontoon bridge that had just submerged several of his cronies.

Zhu Zhi was the first to stand up, and directly began to take off his armor in a hurry, and when he touched the crown on his head, which represented the identity of Zhonglang General, he didn't stop, directly untied the crown of the crane, threw it on the mud, and then jumped on the bridge under the cloak and caught up with Sun Jian with the generals.

The white-clothed soldiers crossed easily, and when they arrived on the other side, Zhu Junli turned around and drew his sword: "Did you see the second class?" The prince has his own destiny of glory and martial arts, and this battle can only move forward! ”

The three armies were excited, and they crossed the river together, but Sun Jian didn't know how to do it, so he walked along the embankment in the rain with the last rays of the day.

In this way, soon after the sky was dark, the former army touched the gathering located on the riverside, which belonged to an ancient country in Deng in the Spring and Autumn Period, leaving a small city, but because this place was only three or four miles away from Deng County, and the city was also broken, only hundreds of soldiers were stationed, and the city was just a temporary logistics camp...... In the rainy night, Liu Biaojun was caught off guard, but he was taken head-on by Sun Jian.

Immediately, all the prisoners of the garrison were beheaded, and Sun Jian used this as a base to gather the follow-up troops and recuperate.

By midnight, the whole army had finished eating and drinking, and the troops in the small city had gathered more than 10,000 people, but Sun Wentai left the wounded, and then did not equip the armor and other things captured in the gathering, and directly dressed naked and carried out with knives in the rain!

In the second half of the night, outside the city of Dengxian County, Lu Bu, who insisted on returning to his camp after drinking at Cai Mao's place, was suddenly awakened from his deep sleep by an earth-shattering roar in the military camp outside the city...... He turned over and listened blankly for a long time, but suddenly woke up!

It turned out that there were waves of noise outside, all with a Jianghan accent, and the shouting was - kill Lu Bu!

—————I am the dividing line that swept across the river—————

"Sun Jian is a little man, quite able to use people, and when he speaks to the generals, he knows it." - Dong Zhuo

PS: Three things:

1. Thank you for your enthusiasm, my aunt has succeeded in two stars.

2. The inspiration for sweeping the reeds to cross the river comes from historical records, Sun Jian's sister, that is, Xu Kun's mother, once offered advice in a certain battle, using reeds to form a disposable raft to carry soldiers across the river, not made it up by herself.

3. Lu ...... What do you pronounce this word? By the way, thanks to the black boss's popular science, I couldn't recognize this word on the map at that time, and most of the "Book of the Later Han" on the Internet mentioned the settlement by the water next to Deng County, it was all garbled, and it all relied on the black boss to help verify it.